"Ere many generations pass, our machinery will be driven by power obtainable at any point in the universe. It is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature."

- Nikola Tesla

Tesla Motors and Space X don't need batteries or combustion chambers to propel them. As Nikola implies, we can plug straight in to nature for free, abundant energy that could power our homes, cars and even space travel. How cool would that be?

Nicky made good motors. But his brain was cosmically short-circuited when it came to tapping into the Endless Free Energy Lunch, I'm afraid.

Timo | July 29, 2012

I think you have understood Nikola idea of "free energy" a bit wrong. His idea of free energy was that nobody would need to pay for it, not that he creates it from nothing. There are several non-functioning inventions in his resume though. Couple of severe exaggerations and plain imagination especially in his later years, I think he was a bit crazy, but also brilliant. "beautiful mind" -person.

Brian H | July 29, 2012

There's no difference. If it wasn't being paid for by the user, the creator/transmitter would have had to cover all costs for (world-wide?) access. Such costs, even if minute per watt-hour, are potentially immense, almost infinite, and so could not possibly be >0.

In a deep physics sense, free energy is tantamount to making change occur without effort. This is the God Delusion -- very addictive!

Timo | July 29, 2012

There is a difference. Tesla dream was that energy itself doesn't cost a penny, you can use as much as you need, maintenance and building the towers obviously have cost and someone would need to pay that.

Anyway dream was kinda like LPP Focus Fusion goal, energy itself costs so little that it doesn't matter if people pay for energy itself, reactor maintenance and building cost is far bigger (while still very small). If there is way more energy accessible than needed price goes so low that actually billing people costs more than giving it free. A bit like my phone bill, 0.20EUR for two years, and they actually send me a bill :-).

Brian H | July 29, 2012

There is no cost-free energy; it's almost a definition of "cost" that it requires some expenditure of energy to access an existing "pool". Such pools may be fossil fuels or sunshine or fusion or falling water, but there's always a finite expenditure for a finite pay-out. And no resource is infinite.

"Doesn't cost a penny" is BS. There is no zero expenditure for a finite payout; that's a classic sucker bet. Even on a "marginal" next erg basis. That implies an infinite payoff ratio, a perpetuum mobile.